Letters to the Editor Wednesday

I wholeheartedly support Stan Deaton’s excellent proposal (“Man, monument ... and a bridge?” Viewpoints, Feb. 10) to change the name of our beautiful bridge, which I cross twice a day, and never without an internal cringe at the name Talmadge.

As a Southerner who lived through all the turmoil of the ’60s and ’70s, I feel that the time has come to honor our founder with his name on the most conspicuous feature of Savannah’s “skyscape!”

SAMUEL R. CROCKETT, III

Savannah

Real estate article didn’t match the headline

This is not the first time I have written to ask why the Savannah Morning News continues to provide misleading headlines and information when it comes to the local real estate market.

If anyone bothered to read Adam Van Brimmer’s entire Jan. 8 article, as well as taking a careful look at the accompanying chart provided by Savannah Multi-List Service, a few points stand out.

First, the average price of homes sold in December 2012, was the third lowest monthly average in the past 12 months, with only February 2012 and May 2012, recording lower monthly averages.

Second, the number of homes sold or pending in December 2012 was in fact less than those sold or pending in December 2011. And this justifies a headline that reads, “Home sales finish strong” and a lead paragraph that claims, “the local sales market continued to breathe fire”?

ROBERT N. BAUGNIET

Savannah

Will Obama be uniter or a divider?

These are truly “times that try men’s souls.”

While nearly all of us want elected local, state and federal officials to do more to enforce existing laws to keep guns out of the hands of potentially violent individuals, even the hint of confiscation from law-abiding citizens raises the specter of insurrection.

Before any legislation has been passed, sheriffs and governors around the country are already saying publicly that they will not confiscate guns. For most gun owners, that ownership carries a heavy weight of responsibility, which they recognize and cherish. They know that any violation of that trust can lead to a felony conviction, which would deny them the right to protect themselves or their family with a lethal weapon.

Yet that right is provided for all citizens in our Constitution. Our president has the opportunity for a legacy of healing our nation or of further dividing it. That is his choice, and his choice alone.

JAMES SICKEL

Savannah

Passing more gun laws won’t stop criminals

It is very sad that people who favor national gun registration do not have the foggiest idea of what they are talking about.

When a gun is sold through a legal dealership, it automatically goes into a data base and is registered. A national registration is not only unnecessary, it is also a useless law that will cost the taxpayer money and do nothing to thwart crime.

I say that it is useless until a totalitarian, socialist nation decides to confiscate all weapons belonging to individuals who live by the law.

Criminals could care less about the law. They steal and procure their guns by illegal means.

I am a gun collector and I hunted years ago. I have many close friends who feel the same as I do.

None of us have anything to hide and we live by the law. We all agree that there has to be some control over weapons but we, for the most part, feel that the government is passing laws on top of laws that only affect law-abiding citizens just to make the public think that they are helping (or doing something).

We also feel that there are enough laws now on the books, if they were enforced, to rectify the problem of gun control.

JAMES D. BURROUGHS, JR

Vidalia

Politicians do anything to stay in office

According to recent news, the California General Assembly will debate giving driver licenses to illegal aliens.

The state assemblyman introducing the legislation says the time is right. The Democrats control the assembly and Gov. Jerry Brown has indicated his willingness to sign such.

This tells us how much we, the legal majority, are being represented and served. This is happening across the nation once known as the United States of America.

Unity went out with the virtues. Pretty soon, people will wonder what happened to the border and our sovereignty.

It escapes me how a nation in dire financial trouble can think about adding to the debt. We have become a nation of “inerts.”

These are the career welfare recipients that refuse to work and ride the free gravy train on the backs of working America.

But then again, it’s the not-normal puzzle palace known as Washington, D.C., and Alice in Wonderland-like state governments that are responsible. The career politicians are looking out for their longevity in office and buying votes.

WALTER T JENNINGS SR.

Springfield

Crashing the gate is nothing to brag about

Savannah State University must be proud of the ethics they are instilling in their gate-crasher students.

Moreover, why do you give this criminal-type of bragging behavior front page coverage?

THOMAS P. MALETTA

Savannah

Good thing students weren’t terrorists

I totally agree with Michael Hogan’s Feb. 12 letter about the glorification of the two men who managed to sneak into the Super Bowl without paying.

This was indeed a crime and they should have been arrested and prosecuted instead of having their smiling faces in the Savannah Morning News as if they had done a good thing.

What concerns me even more is the fact that they were able to get past security. I always assumed after 9/11 that the security for national events such as the Super Bowl were incredibly tight and secure.

Can you even imagine the damage that would have been done to our national consciousness if two terrorists had managed to slip into the Super Bowl and detonated an explosive device?

Shame on these two men and shame on you for glorifying their accomplishment.

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The recent rush to pass new gun laws is really about the desire to "do something," to be seen as sympathetic to the victims of Newtown. It matters not that criminals will continue to ignore the law. It matters not that law abiding citizens will be forced to decide between complying or defying new laws. It only seems to matter that politicians do something, and that the measure of success is actually what they do and not the effect their actions will have. Their motives are probably the most transparent aspect of this debate: To be seen as a champion of the victims. I can just imagine the victims of gun violence in places like Chicago asking why their suffering didn't warrant such outcry.

1) Is there a proven correlation between [filtered word] size and the number and type of guns one has?
2) To those who are so anti-illegals, I can almost guarantee that every time you used that American company to cut your grass, maintain your company building, clean that walmart, that illegal Mexicans and Guatemalans did the dirty work. The fault is not in the Government but the apathetic criminal mindedness of the employers trying to cheat the American taxpayer out of the taxes due. The other way they do it, of course, is by farming out labor to foreign countries but we all think that is OK because we buy at Walmart